Lenovo ThinkPad Helix review : Look and Feel

LOOK AND FEEL

Take away the keyboard dock, and the Helix looks sort of like the ThinkPad Tablet 2, which in turn looks like any recent ThinkPad. Clearly, the company knows it has a good thing going with its design and, just as important, that its entire brand is wrapped up in soft-touch materials, red accents and sturdy keyboards. Besides, it was a really, really big deal when Lenovo revamped its touchpad layout, so it makes sense the company isn't taking chances on any other part of the design.

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Review : Software and Warranty

SOFTWARE AND WARRANTY

When you spend nearly $1,700 on a PC -- a business PC, at that -- you don't expect to be greeted by much bloatware when you boot the thing up for the first time. Fortunately, Lenovo mostly makes good on that promise. All we have here is Skitch, Evernote, Kindle, AccuWeather, the music-streaming service Rara.com and Lenovo Support.

There's also Lenovo Companion, but we recommend you not click on it. Maybe even remove the tile from your Start Screen. What it is, basically, is a portal with shortcuts for Lenovo's blogs and its YouTube channel. You'll also find offers for things like Zinio's magazine store and Norton Internet Security. Sort of a waste of space if you ask us.

All of the various Helix configurations come standard with one year of coverage, though extended warranties as long as five years are available too.